This week we let the reviews take a back seat, as we focus on festival fare and classic cinema. Podcast stalwart Irini M. is back with us to discuss the line-up for this year’s Venice Film Festival (which she will be attending) but abandons us after half an hour, forcing Pete to turn to poetry for consolation. We take (a lot of) time out to discuss the year that was 1977, talking about the year’s critics prizes, Oscar winners, and our personal top tens, leading to digressions about a classic catfight between Shirley MaClaine and Anne Bancroft, and a disappointing gay denial from Cal’s student days. Elsewhere, we chat about David Gordon Green’s “Joe,” sci-fi adventure “Earth to Echo,” and mythological action film “Hercules,” which Pete’s piano pupil was conspicuously absent from. Tune in to discover which Hong Kong director (no – not that one) got Pete and Irini excited, how the approach to casting of Luis Bunuel and Pier Pasolini was beyond liberal, and why the party island of Ibiza will force a mini-podcast hiatus.